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With an assist from Nicholas Wu

STOPGAP SAILS TO SENATE— The one-week patch to keep the government funded past Friday night is now in the Senate’s court.

The next question is whether the chamber can move quickly on the measure or if individual senators will hold up the stopgap in exchange for amendment votes or other concessions of their choosing. The usual suspects for those requests were noncommittal Wednesday about their plans on the one-week bill.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he hadn’t made a final decision yet. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said the seven-day spending patch "substantially increases the threat of a shutdown" but wasn’t clear on if he’d hold up the measure.

That’s what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) meant when he said that the chamber could clear the bill as soon as today, barring an “unwelcome brouhaha.”

About last night… Of the nine House Republicans who voted with Democrats to advance the one-week measure, only Reps. Steve Womack of Arkansas and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania will return to Congress next year.

The other seven won’t be back, due to retirement or losing their elections: Reps. Chris Jacobs of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York and Jamie Herrera Beutler of Washington.

Buying time: The bill on the move this week provides Congress extra runway to turn a framework for a $1.7 trillion year-end spending package into actual legislation. The framework, announced Tuesday without many details, is seen as a positive step but Schumer warned, “We still have a long way to go.”

GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, Dec. 15.

TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK— The Senate moved Wednesday to ban federal employees from downloading or using the social-media app TikTok on government devices. The chamber passed a measure from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) by unanimous consent without much fanfare.

“TikTok is a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a major security risk,” said Hawley in a statement after the bill passed. TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is Beijing-based, has repeatedly said that it has never shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government and wouldn’t if asked.

The measure would still need to clear the House and be signed by President Joe Biden to take effect.

Related: Utah bans TikTok from public devices, joining other Republican states, from Ben Brasch at The Washington Post

NDAA HOTLINE — Schumer wants to wrap up action on the annual defense spending bill this week, but so far there aren’t votes slated on the bill. However, leaders did run a hotline Wednesday to suss out opposition to potentially expediting passage. The hotline included a scenario where two major amendments would get floor votes:

— Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) proposal to overhaul permitting for energy projects

— Sens. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) and Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) amendment to reinstate troops kicked out for not complying with the Pentagon’s vaccine mandate and grant them back pay

— Both would require 60 votes for adoption.

No word yet on what the hotline yielded, but there very well could be floor action today: Senate leaders would love to clear the NDAA off the to-do list and leave next week clear to tackle the year-end spending bill.

McCARTHY’S DREADED MOTION — House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is still in a political vise as he tries to navigate a divided conference and win the votes he needs to clinch the speaker’s gavel in January. Jordain and Olivia write that he’s been pulled into a game of “The Price is Right” over one controversial rule.

The “motion to vacate the chair,” which allows members to force a vote on deposing a sitting speaker, is at the heart of McCarthy’s fight with his GOP critics. (The tool is best known for how it was wielded by the House Freedom Caucus in 2015 against then-Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)).

House Republicans have already voted to require a majority of the conference to back any motion to vacate, feeding hope among some McCarthy allies that they had defanged the fight. Not so fast: The issue is now rearing its head as part of the debate over House rules in the new Congress, and the House Freedom Caucus continues to push for allowing any member to raise the motion.

Meanwhile, Playbook reports this morning that McCarthy’s camp has actively encouraged centrist Republicans to publicly counter that position in an intraparty game of “good cop, bad cop.”

Over my dead body: When asked by Jordain on Wednesday night if there is anything that could change his plan to oppose McCarthy as speaker in January, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said, "I could be dead, I guess." He added: "I hope I'm not."

WHICH WAY TO THE ECA? — Key House Democrats signaled Wednesday they would accept the Senate’s version of an Electoral Count Act rewrite if it is attached to the coming omnibus. The legislation would update a 135-year-old election law that former President Donald Trump and his allies tried to exploit to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who spearheaded the House’s push to draft reform legislation as House Administration chair, said in a brief interview the Senate proposal was “better than the status quo, and so we will support it.”

“I don't believe that [Vice President] Kamala Harris is going to try and overthrow the election in two years,” she added. “So there will be other opportunities and holes that need to be plugged.”

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the Jan. 6 select panel, added that “we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and so I think we should move forward with that as part of the omnibus, and then I hope to make further progress on electoral reforms in the new year.”

HOUSE OVERTIME OVERHAUL — The House quietly adopted major changes to how overtime is implemented for employees of the chamber on Wednesday along with a vast expansion of paid leave within the legislative branch.

The resolution, sponsored by Lofgren, would give House employees the same overtime protections that other federal and private sector workers enjoy. It would also provide the same parental and family leave that Congress enacted for executive branch workers in 2019. It would allow employees to use Family and Medical Leave Act leave to care for family who are veterans or active service members and revise the definition of a spouse to include same-sex couples.

The expansion of overtime protections for House workers is hugely significant, but details of implementation and who would be exempt and nonexempt employees under this new regulatory framework are not yet clear.

Your Huddle host was told that offices with questions about implementing the new overtime and paid leave regulations should consult with the Office House Employment Counsel for more specifics.

Deck the halls… Staff in Sen. Cynthia Lummis’ (R-Wyo.) Russell offices have spent days in an arms race of holiday decorating ahead of a cutthroat most-festive-workspace competition Wednesday.

Chief of Staff Kristin Walker was dressed as Will Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf when your Huddle host arrived for the final judging, while the communications shop was brewing hot cocoa and lobbying hard for their cozy corner to win.

Judges included Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who took the role seriously, surveying every sparkle and snowflake and taking notes on their clipboards.

Sinema sampled a homemade doughnut and took a goodie bag with peanut M&Ms, noting their mix of “carbs and protein.”

Lummis opted out of being a judge of her own team. “There are a lot of competitive people in this office,” she told Huddle. “They are willing to humiliate themselves to win.”

Drumroll, please… Walker took the top prize for her Buddy costume and huge buffet of candy (and wine!), followed by the schedulers’ winter wonderland, complete with snowflakes made from old congressional records. The cozy communications corner won best overall theme (the lobbying paid off!)

QUICK LINKS 

Pat Toomey didn’t change in his 12 years as a senator. The GOP did. by Jonathan Tamari at The Philadelphia Inquirer

TRANSITIONS 

Neil Kornze is now chief of staff for Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.). He most recently was CEO of Campion Advocacy Fund and Campion Foundation and is a former Bureau of Land Management director.

Adela Amador will be chief of staff for Rep.-elect Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.). She most recently was deputy chief of staff/legislative director for Rep. Josh Harder (D-Calif.).

Amanda Neely has rejoined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as an of counsel. She previously was director of governmental affairs for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and general counsel to Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

TODAY IN CONGRESS

The House meets at 9 a.m. for legislative business and will vote today on a bill outlining the path for a referendum on the status of Puerto Rico and a measure on collective bargaining rights at the VA.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. and will consider the nomination of Musetta Johnson to be a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, with a vote on confirmation at noon. Additional votes are expected today.

AROUND THE HILL

9:15 a.m. Bennet, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and others hold a press conference to announce legislation to reform the H-2A visa program. (SVC 202)

10:30 a.m. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and other Republicans hold a press conference on the end of the military covid vaccine mandate. (S-325)

10:45 a.m. Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds her weekly press conference. (Studio A)

WEDNESDAY’S WINNER: Lori Bliss correctly answered that Caleb Cushing was both U.S. attorney general and a commissioner to China.

TODAY’S QUESTION from Lori: When was the first Farm Bill enacted?

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected]

GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning.

Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus